God Loves… Himself

The true Church has always condemned Pelagianism, yet in the modern day Pelagianism has the majority voice. It does not go around in its own name, yet it is present at the heart of people in every denomination. Though the number of those who profess to be Reformed appears to be increasing, yet the core of the Gospel of the Reformers does not appear to be increasing at all. What that means is that there are many who have the outward dress or shell of Reformed teaching while the core of what they really are is Arminian (which is semi-Pelagian at best) or Pelagian. When the twin truths of man’s enslaved will and sovereign grace are denied in practice (even if not in theory), the Gospel is not being stood for. Luther thought that this was the heart of the Reformation.

The claim that we can do something good by our own will is by definition to be a Pelagian, but so is the practice of it. Nothing good can come from a human soul other than what God works in it. To say or do in practice anything different is to be a Pelagian or a practical Pelagian. If God does not work something in the soul by grace, then whatever the soul does will not be pleasing to God as it is a work of the flesh. If we say that the Gospel that the Arminian preaches is the same as what the Reformed should teach, we have just denied the Reformation in reality. The enslaved will was a teaching that was vital and at the heart of the Gospel that burst forth during the Reformation. Apart from it there is no true teaching of grace alone and therefore no true teaching of faith alone.

It can not be stated strongly enough that apart from the teaching, preaching, counseling, and evangelizing based on the enslaved will there is no way of getting to the truth of the Gospel and no way of presenting the truth of the Gospel of the grace of God. This is not just a nice teaching, it is a necessary teaching. Many want to teach about grace while trying to hide the tough truth of the enslaved will, but they cannot teach a sovereign grace in reality and in the soul apart from this. Sovereign grace is the only kind of grace there is in reality. Apart from this rough and rugged teaching of the enslaved will there is no room for an inner repentance from the depths of the soul. The person hearing preaching or being evangelized will always think of self as the agent of change and the agent of choice apart from a clear presentation on the enslaved will. Pelagians and professing Reformed people have the same result at that point if they do not teach sinners about their enslaved wills.

Who can move the will? It must either be God or the human self. Whatever comes from self (the fleshly self) is sin. When the soul is moved by self and the flesh there is no good that can result. The soul that moves by self has been left of God to itself. The only good that a soul can do must have its origin in God alone who is the only source of true good. The only good that will ever come from the soul has its origin from God and it is worked in and through the soul by God because there is no other source of good. There is no merit for man in that. But until the soul arrives at a point of an experiential knowledge that it is enslaved to sin it will always think that it can do something good of itself. It may even have the theory in its head that it is enslaved, but until that soul arrives at the experiential aspect of it and knows from the depths of the soul that it is enslaved it will always be enslaved to self.

The soul has never been created to be the origin of good because God alone is that. The soul was created to be in utter dependence on God, but in the Fall it left that to be dependent on itself and to be like God. For a soul to rely on Christ alone is for that soul to rely on Christ not only to bring it back to God but also to receive all from God through Christ. The soul that relies on Christ alone relies on Him alone for all good that is received and for all that is to be done. It is the Spirit of Christ alone who can move the soul to love and good deeds. The commands of God are to the soul with Christ as its life and can only be kept with Christ as its life and the fruit of the Spirit.

The soul can do nothing good apart from Christ (John 15) and receiving all fruit and good from Him. The soul cannot even put to death sin unless it is putting sin to death by the Spirit (Romans 8:13). The soul does what it does in the grip of the flesh or in the power of the Spirit. So we are left with those who have enslaved wills and those who are not. Those who truly believe that all have enslaved wills believe that it is true of all people. Those who don’t truly believe in the enslaved will can include those who are Reformed in name all the way down to atheists. Those who truly believe in the enslaved will know that those who are in sin are completely enslaved to sin and have no way of doing the least thing that is not from the enslaved will. As Romans 8:7 teaches, “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” As John 15 teaches we can do nothing good or spiritual apart from God doing it in us. Anything less from that twin teaching leaves a person in the power of the enslaved will even if that person is religious or Reformed. The Pharisees were very religious, but they were slaves to their own self and self-righteousness. It is still true today.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Below some verses are given which clearly show that faith must at least involve things that are not seen. This is necessary to show that because so much of today’s so-called Gospel is about things that are seen. We try to present things as evidence to men as those things which can be seen. We try to present things to them that are easily understood. But the true preaching of the Gospel is about things not seen. The object of faith is not a physical Christ, but a Divine one that cannot be seen and has never been seen.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

Romans 8:24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

2 Corinthians 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

1 Peter 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Faith is in things that cannot be seen with the physical eyes, but instead requires a spiritual nature so that it is the spiritual eyes that see. Faith involves hearing with the spiritual ears and not just the physical ears. Faith involves tasting and seeing that God is good and not just with the physical senses. When we present physical things to the eyes of faith, it is the faith of the natural man and not that of the spiritual. Eternal things cannot be seen with the physical eyes and yet so much of today’s preaching and teaching is about physical things. This demonstrates the need for a preparatory work in and on the soul so that the soul can get beyond understanding all things in the physical realm. If the soul is not moved out of the physical realm, the soul will never have spiritual life and true faith. So when people refuse to teach people that they are unable to have Christ of themselves and of sovereign grace, they are leaving people to themselves and to their own physical senses and a false faith.

When we see things in this light, Luther’s position is seen as biblical rather than extreme. The soul must be humbled because God has promised grace to the humbled. Until a person mourns and despairs of self that person is not humbled. Until a person realizes that salvation is totally and utterly beyond his own powers and efforts, he is not truly humbled and reliant upon sovereign grace to work salvation. In other words, that person still relies upon his senses and his fallen reason to determine things for him rather than God. That person is not and cannot function by faith in the spiritual realm as long as he leans on his senses and fallen reason. It is by grace alone through faith alone that the soul is saved by Christ alone. Apart from the soul being humbled into the dust, it will not have grace alone and faith alone. Apart from the soul being delivered from all hope in self and all hope in the powers of the natural man and of the physical senses, the soul will not be saved. The soul must be thoroughly humbled in order to have faith in the spiritual realm and receive Christ by grace. Luther was absolutely right. Our day is wrong.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Unless a person is driven beyond his or her fleshly abilities there is no room for faith. This sounds a bit much, but this is at least part of what Luther is saying. Men and women trust in themselves to believe and trust in themselves to convince others to believe. But in doing so they are not getting beyond the fleshly ability of a person and so there is no true faith at all. For there to be true and spiritual faith in the soul a person must get beyond his own abilities and strength to come up with faith on his own. This is why it is so important to teach people their own inability in the spiritual realm. If people are not driven beyond their own abilities, then they will be Pharisees or libertines or something other than a true Christian. Once again, let me quote from Solomon Stoddard:

There are some who deny any necessity of the preparatory work of the Spirit of God in order to a closing with Christ. This is a very dark cloud, both as it is an evidence that men do not have the experience of that work in their own souls, and as it is a sight that such men are utterly unskillful in guiding others who are under this work. If this opinion should prevail in the land, it would give a deadly wound to religion. It would expose men to think of themselves as converted when they are not (A Guide to Christ).

Here we see what happens when people do not understand the work of the Spirit of God in bringing men to a point where they do not rely on anything of themselves and their own power. The nature of the self, pride, and the flesh are so strong that it will do anything but stop trusting and relying on self. The self and pride will become orthodox and very religious. Self and pride and the flesh will become quite Reformed, but it will not stop trusting in itself. So when people deny the necessity of the preparatory work of the Spirit of God in order to come to Christ what they are doing is shutting off the way of true repentance and faith. Apart from that preparatory work of the Spirit in working in men and bringing them to an end to all hope in self a person will never repent and never truly believe.

What this does, then, is to make men think of themselves as converted when in fact they are not. Instead of being turned from self the modern religion turns men to self or at least leaves men in the power and bondage of self. Yet this serves the devil quite well. He is a self-made devil in the sense that he does what he wants to do and is in the full power of self. The devil loves to use religion to blind the souls of men to the truth. It is no wonder that he would use the fleshly nature to blind men to the way of life which is beyond the fleshly nature. When men think of faith as simply believing a few facts, that is in accordance with the fleshly nature and not spiritual truth.

Thus it is so clear that Stoddard was right in the words he penned in the 1700’s which agree with what Luther penned in the 1500’s. Yet in the modern day Satan has been at work very hard and has restored a lot of the religion of the Pharisees in various forms. The Pharisees were those who looked to themselves to believe and the works they could perform. Oh they believed in predestination, but they were still so focused on themselves and their own works. One cannot deny works for salvation until one denies the ability of human souls to do the works. One cannot deny the ability of human souls to do works until one teaches that human souls must come to an utter end of their rational abilities and five senses to produce faith or anything else. The soul must come to an utter end of itself and be helpless before God before faith will be or can be worked in it by grace alone.

It is the helpless soul that alone can look to God alone. It is the soul under the wrath of God that alone can look to the grace of God alone. It is the soul that has lost all hope in its own ability that can look to the ability of God alone to save it. It is the soul that is hanging over the pit of hell knowing justice cries out for it and it deserves to go there than can look to grace alone for heaven. The soul must be driven beyond its senses and strength to have true faith.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). In this verse the words of the Spirit tell us that the wisdom of the world cannot be a means of coming to know God because in the wisdom of God made it so that the world through it wisdom did not come to know God. But God is pleased to save through the foolishness (to the world’s wisdom) of the message preached saves those who believe. In other words, true faith comes in a way that is not in accordance with the wisdom of the world. This is a vital point if the nature of true faith is to be seen and understood. True faith is not in accordance with the wisdom of the world.

The wisdom of men is either tied to their rational approach or it is tied to their senses. This is not to say that the rational approach and the senses cannot go together, but it is just put this way to make a point. However, to receive grace, which operates in the spiritual realm, a soul must be humbled beyond the fleshly nature in both the rational and the physical senses in order to receive it. Another way to put it is to say that a soul must be humbled from its fleshly nature to receive grace which comes in a spiritual way. This seems to be rather obvious and is certainly self-evident. Men must be humbled into the dust and give up all hope in themselves and in their physical senses in order to receive what can only come by grace. We are told to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and not to lean on our own understanding (Prov 3:5). This would include the worldly wisdom and the way it understands.

All grace that comes to the soul comes through Christ and the soul that is united to Christ. Faith also comes by grace and Scripture sets it out as the work of the Spirit. So we have the Spirit working faith in the soul and the grace that is received only comes through faith. But this is not by the physical senses, but by the faith that operates in the spiritual realm. Jesus told the woman that if she believed she would see the glory of God. This was in John 11 where Lazarus was raised from the dead. So faith beholds the glory of God and sees what the physical senses do not. All the people there that day saw and heard Jesus says words and then Lazarus come out of the grave. But not all saw the glory of God shining forth. Nicodemus and many others saw the miracles that Jesus did, but Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born from above to see or enter the kingdom of God. So the miracles made it obvious who Jesus was and many believed. But that did not mean that they were converted and saw His glory.

2 Corinthians 4:18 sets this out very a great deal of clarity for us: “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” The things that are seen, that is, the things that the physical eyes can see, are the things which are temporal. But the things which are not seen by the physical eye and yet are the things we look at with the spiritual eye are eternal things. In order for a soul to use faith, then, it must be driven beyond what the physical eye can see and behold spiritual things. It appears that much of Christianity today is simply a fleshly and blind trust in God to do something that the soul wants in the physical realm. But Luther saw ever so clearly that the soul must be driven beyond its physical senses and beyond its fleshly and physical nature in order to have true faith. We miss that today and in missing that we are missing something vital to Christianity.

So in the modern way of evangelizing, we want to be nice to people and tell them things that they can understand as they are and give them something to do that is in their own power. So many who profess to be Reformed say that there are deeper truths but do not want to trouble people with those. However, it seems to be the case that people need to be troubled in order to be driven beyond their fleshly powers and abilities in order that they may have faith in the first place. Until men are driven beyond their own fleshly abilities, there is no room for faith at all.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

The driving thought of this section of Luther is an awakening shout to modern people who slumber in the throes of their physical senses. Their faith is somehow tied to those and they rest confidently in what their senses tell them. The gospel that is preached and taught today is one that fits very well with a person not having to go beyond his or her own sensory experience. The devil has worked his deceptions in the modern professing Church and so we are deceived. But, if Luther was and is right, then a person must be humbled and broken from the five physical senses in order to arrive at the truth of spiritual faith which is real and saving faith.

Hebrews 11:1 sets out some of the basics of faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Clearly, without any real question, faith operates in the realm of things not seen. Hebrews 11:7 goes on to tell us that “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Noah believed what God said would happen rather than the things he could see and lived and functioned by what God said rather than according to the world around him.

Speaking of Moses, on the other hand, Hebrews 11:27 tells us that “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.” So on the one hand faith operates by what it does not see and yet on the other hand it operates by what it does see. True and saving faith functions and operates in the spiritual realm by what it sees in the spiritual realm by the eyes of the soul while it does not operate by what the physical eyes see.

We see this illustrated in II Corinthians 5:6-8. “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord–7 for we walk by faith, not by sight– 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” The body is that which those who are not of true faith never want to leave. But Paul (who was full of faith) preferred to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord which he considered to be far better. True faith enables one to live by the character and presence of God rather than by what the human flesh senses, feels, and desires.

So Luther is extremely biblical in teaching us that we must preach the enslaved will in order to teach the things of true faith. A person must come to faith in the things that the eyes cannot see in order to have true faith. What must be truly believed in the spiritual realm is in fact hidden from the physical senses and the way human beings think and operate. This is what is so insidious about many of the things that are going on in the modern professing Church. It is all about the senses and it is all about the things that we can see. It is all about this life and even this physical life. But the teachings of Christ are all about the spiritual realm. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about spiritual things and that have to do with His spiritual kingdom.

The soul that rests on Christ alone cannot rest on the physical things about Christ and what is understood of Christ, but has to see into the spiritual kingdom to see spiritual things. The soul that is going to be saved must be brought to the point of its spiritual death in order to see that it is God who does the impossible according to the physical senses and that is to bring spiritual life to the soul. Faith is far more than a simple intellectual belief, but it is a soul that has been made a new creature in Christ and has spiritual senses. Faith is now the actions of a spiritual life in the soul that lives by spiritual principles and by what the Spirit works in the soul. A soul that has not learned how enslaved it really is in the spiritual realm apart from Christ will not look to Christ alone to be saved from itself.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

The above insight into faith by Luther is taken directly from Scripture. For example, Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” If we look at this as the biblical definition of faith, then we can see that true faith involves things that are hoped for and yet not seen. True faith, then, has to do with things that the physical eye cannot see. Another way to put it would be to think of faith as the senses of the soul that operates in the spiritual realm and that realm is unseen to the physical eyes. Jesus spoke to those who had hears to hear, but clearly He was speaking to those who could hear spiritual truths. God judges people by bringing blindness to them, but once again that is a spiritual blindness. Faith, then, has to do with spiritual things. Saving faith or spiritual faith is a faith or belief that operates and functions in the spiritual realm.

The truth that Luther brings out here is something that should inform evangelism and sanctification. Evangelism is practiced in the modern day as if people could be saved by bringing truth for the mind and they could simply make a choice for it. But that is far from the truth. Salvation comes to souls that have new hearts and minds and so people have a belief or faith in the spiritual realm. One example can be seen in the miracles of Jesus. It is hard to deny a miracle, though some did. But among those that saw miracles and believed in the physical miracle were many of those that were not truly converted. Those who were converted had eyes to see into the spiritual realm and see the hand of God there. The unconverted would see someone healed and they would have a faith of sorts that was limited to the physical realm. But those who were converted saw the glory of God shining in the spiritual realm. We also have truth that is spiritual and cannot be seen by physical eyes.

Hebrews 11:3 goes on to say that it is “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” This describes for us the real issue with the differences between evolution and creation. The real issue is faith. The unbeliever, whether a professing believer or not, has not capacity for sight beyond what his or her eyes can see. But the world was created out of things which are not visible. It is possible for those without spiritual eyes to have a sense of design from looking at or studying creation but that is not the same thing as having a sense of God and of His glory in creation. A person can believe in creation but not be truly converted.

Luther’s point, however, has to do with why we must preach to men and teach them that they are enslaved to sin and utterly dependant on the sovereign grace of God to save them. Luther says that this is because of the nature of faith. This is such an insightful point that it deserves to have a book written on it. Faith does not come to sinners because they are smart and they respond to an intellectual approach in giving them the facts. True faith is something that must come from God by grace and grace alone. True faith is able to see spiritual things and to hear spiritual things. But spiritual things are the things of the Spirit of Christ and only come to the soul by grace alone. This teaches us another reason why the soul must be deeply humbled in order to receive grace. It is because there can be no faith apart from grace because faith only comes by the sovereign grace of God.

The enslaved will must be taught to men so that they will reach an end of themselves in the natural realm and even their own ability to believe. Apart from men reaching the point of understanding themselves to be dead to spiritual things they will not become dead to their own abilities to see spiritual things. But faith operates in the spiritual realm and does not rely on the physical senses. Faith rests in God and God alone. While it is easier for men to hear information that they are able to deal with in their natural man, they must be brought to an end of that natural man so that they can look to grace alone to give them the ability of faith to operate in the spiritual realm. Apart from teaching men that their wills are enslaved, we will not teach them the way of true faith. It is that important.

For several articles we have been looking at the first reason that Luther gave for preaching the enslavement of the willand sovereign grace to sinners. Hopefully the point was made that apart from teaching people the enslavement of their will we have no way of driving them to the point of helplessness in themselves and so that they can even see what it means to rely on sovereign grace which is the only kind of grace that there is. The next quote is from Luther giving the second reason we should preach the truth of the enslavement of the will and the sovereign grace of God.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Luther’s point here virtually destroys the modern way of evangelism and preaching. In the modern day we don’t want to teach people the hard things because we don’t want to run them off. We think that if they like us they will hear us and we can get them to make a commitment to Christ and then we will teach them the hard things later. However, the fear of them leaving is always there so we never quite get around to it. What Luther writes here is simply full of wisdom and of a man who has seen God by faith.

Until a person has reached the end of self, that person will look to self and to the senses and experiences of self. In modern preaching and evangelism those are the things that people are taught to look to. A person must actually come to a biblical faith and that faith must actually be in God through Christ. That faith cannot only be because a person has intellectually believed the facts of the Gospel and then made a commitment, but a person must actually be united to Christ and so receiving from Christ. One important aspect of faith is that it receives grace from God purchased and mediated by Christ. But to receive grace a person must be emptied of self, merit, and self-righteousness. Self always wants to trust in self in some way, so until self is denied grace will not be received. Salvation is by faith in order that it may be by faith (Rom 4:16).

The object of saving faith is hidden from the senses of the physical body. This is the reason that the believer walks by faith. We walk by faith because we walk by what the soul receives from God rather than what the senses and the worldly system built on those senses teach us. Many have faith in God for external things, but they have a sort of rational faith or a worldly faith. Luther’s great insight should be meditated on deeply: “That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience.” Paul said of Abraham that “In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Rom 4).

In Hebrews 11 we see Abraham again. He was looking ahead to a city whose architect was God (vv. 8-10). He was going to slay Isaac because he believed the promise of God so much that he thought that God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to keep His promise (11:17-19). What we see, then, is that faith functions and operates in the spiritual realm. It operates at a hidden level in terms of the physical realm. That shows us that in order for a person to have true faith that person must reach the end of what his physical senses can inform him or her of and be driven to the spiritual realm. The senses of human beings cannot understand how God could make a promise through Isaac and then how God would command that Abraham would offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Only the soul that sees beyond the physical realm and its senses could understand how Abraham could do what he did in complete faith in the promises of God. Until a soul arrives at the point of death to self and trusting in its sense it cannot have true faith in Christ. It cannot believe beyond what it can see. Teaching the enslavement of the will and sovereign grace, therefore, are necessary teachings to the Gospel of grace alone through faith alone.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.    (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

The great danger that is produced by those who will not work to see that souls are humbled and brought to despair of themselves is that the soul that does not despair of itself will always look for one little thing that depends on self rather than rest in grace alone. So regardless of whether a person is professing to be Reformed or not, if there is left in the soul one little thing for the soul to do the soul will rest in that one little thing. What is the great danger of that? The soul must despair entirely of self in order to wait for God to work in the soul. What is the great danger of that? Salvation is the work of God in the soul by grace alone. The activity of the self will spoil grace since grace must never have the addition of anything to it or it is no longer grace (Rom 11:6). As Luther points out, the truth of self-despair or the teaching of the enslaved will is “published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled, brought to nothing, and so saved.” Luther’s strong belief in publishing his book The Bondage of the Will was that it was explaining justification by grace alone. Until a soul is utterly emptied of self and has no hope in self it will not look to grace alone to be saved. It will always leave something for itself to do so it may lean on self, even a little.

Those who are uncomfortable with the teaching of grace alone will condemn this teaching. That is in order that they may rely on themselves and excuse themselves in their own eyes in terms of their ministries because they did not teach this. Once a person sees the need for the soul to be utterly humbled and to lose all hope in self, it sees that leading people in a prayer or encouraging them to exercise choice is not only false but misleading people so that they trust in themselves rather than grace. It is not just a teaching, but it is also guiding souls to a deeper and deeper mistrust of self so that the inner person is really doing it. A soul must not just accept the facts that s/he must have no trust in self, but the soul must actually have no trust in self. Those who are not saved by the truth are also not humbled past the point of trusting in self. Many outwardly great things in religion can be done without this teaching, but the Gospel cannot be preached without it. The good news is to be preached to the poor, that is, the poor in spirit. As Luther points out, those who resist this work (whether in theology or in their hearts) “secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God.” No one is an enemy of the grace of God if grace is seen as that which supplies salvation where man can accept or refuse it as he pleases and when he pleases.

The soul that arrives at the intellectual understanding that the soul must be delivered from all hope in itself in order to rest in grace alone is rare today. But even rarer, it appears, is the soul that understands that the actual deliverance from all hope in self is something that actually must happen to the soul. This is the work of grace in the soul. Being delivered from all hope in self is not the work of self, but is the work of grace in its work of irresistible grace. It is in this light that we can understand that Luther viewed those who condemned the teaching of self-despair as enemies of the grace of God. These are hard words, but they are true words. Those who teach that the soul does not have to be brought to an utter end of itself in despair of any help or hope in self are enemies of the grace of God in truth. They are, despite their creeds, enemies to the truth of justification by faith alone. The denial of the Spirit’s work of convincing men of the depths of their sin is a denial of irresistible grace and practically a denial of the Gospel of grace alone. One can be orthodox in creed without this, but one cannot preach grace alone without it.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise.  (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

Luther teaches us as he wrote to Erasmus that a person must be humbled before salvation because God has promised grace to the humble. Until a person “realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works,” that person is not truly humbled. In other words, a person must come to the end of all that self is and all that self can do in order to be truly humbled. Until a person “depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone,” that person is not humbled. So to have true humility hinges on at least two things. It hinges on the inward self leaving all hope in self and resting in the sovereign grace of God. These are the two points that Luther hammers at.

The soul that does not rest in sovereign grace alone is the soul does not utterly despair of any hope in self and so has some hope that it can make the smallest contribution to salvation itself. Many souls, in other words, look to themselves for the tiniest act. It is “a position, an occasion, a work” that the soul has planned which shows that the soul does not depend on God and His grace alone but still has the tiniest reserve for self which is really a mountain of pride rather than a small amount. The mountain of pride still trusts in itself to so some little thing (in its own way of thinking) but in doing that it is refusing to give up all hope in self. In that case self has reserved some hope in itself and that reservoir of self and pride desires control and sufficiency. The truly humbled soul has finished with self to the point that it despairs of self. Only the soul that despairs of self can depend entirely on God and wait for God to work in it. Luther said that such a soul “is very near to grace for his salvation.”

This shows with great clarity why the twin truths of the enslavement of the will and the sovereign grace of God must be taught clearly and openly. Or, as Luther puts it, “these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved.” These great truths are taught for the sake of the elect and not for those who will hate these things and leave religious organizations (called churches at times) over them. Of course unregenerate men who hate God will be offended by these truths which set out the helplessness of man and the sovereignty of grace which is the only kind of grace. But the truth must be taught so that some sinners will be saved. In our day, however, we are so afraid of offending anyone that the truth is watered down so that it is palatable to even very wicked people.

When people have a great sickness and are dying, it is not kind or loving to tell them some syrupy message that withholds the truth from them about their condition so that they can see what they need to be delivered. It is also far from kind and loving to refuse to tell people of the strong medication that is needed to cure their disease. We would think that physicians and nurses were monsters if they did this to dying people. Yet preachers across the land are doing this to the souls of people and they are far worse. The popular message of the day is positive and all within the power of man. It is nothing but poison to the soul, however. People love to hear things about how much is in their power if only they will do something or if they will only believe, but it is poison to their souls. Those who profess to be Reformed know these things intellectually, but for the sake of numbers they will not teach them clearly with sharp points to drive them into the souls of the hearers. This is to hold back necessary truths from souls. It is a monstrous wickedness.

The greatest criminals in our land are not the serial killers as they are called, but the smiling preachers who delude souls and deceive them about their salvation by not preaching the whole truth. People take oaths in our land when they are about to testify in court. They swear that they will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yet ministers will stand before God and dying souls and tell jokes rather than the only antidote to the wrath of God that they are under. They will preach something about the Gospel but not the Gospel itself. They will preach about sin but not sin itself and not what must happen for true repentance to occur. Our land is full of preachers who may be orthodox in creed, but they still cry out peace, peace, when there is no peace. They are more concerned with the number of people in the pew and the dollars coming in than they are to preach the offensive Gospel. They are, behind their expensive suits, nice hair, and smiling faces, criminals of the worst kind. Their judgment will also be far worse than the ones they are deceiving. They are loved by all in this life, but in eternity they will suffer eternal shame and hatred by all. For eternity they will wish they had preached the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But for now, they love the honor of men more than the truth of the Gospel. They are vile and wretched criminals.

There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths. The first is the humbling of our pride, and the comprehending of the grace of God; the second is the nature of Christian faith. For the first; God has surely promised His grace to the humbled; that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another—God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation. So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. This, I repeat, is one reason—that those who fear God might in humility comprehend, claim and receive His gracious promise. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)

According to Luther, and in accordance with the Gospel that went forth during the Reformation, the grace of salvation was only to the humbled. Luther went on to describe what he meant by that. In light of that, it is important to keep two things in mind. One, Luther thought that his views on the enslavement of the will were necessary teachings to the Gospel. Two, the grace given to the humbled was nothing less than the grace that is the grace that justifies by grace alone. The whole point of a justification by faith alone was to teach the truth of justification by grace alone and by Christ alone. So the grace that goes to the humbled is the grace that saves. There can be no question about this at all. For what it is worth, this was the Puritan method of evangelism. The soul had to be thoroughly humbled before it could receive grace.

The salvation that Luther and the Reformers preached and taught was by grace alone. It is true that in the modern day it is justification by faith alone that gets the press. But if we read The Bondage of the Will with some degree of care it is obvious that the reason sinners are saved by faith alone is so that they may be saved by grace alone. The soul that is full of pride and self, whether it is recognized by self or not, is not a soul that can receive grace alone. The soul full of pride is a soul that will rest in itself in some way or something it does. It will trust in itself to believe or come up with just a small amount of faith. The pride in the soul will blind the soul to itself. So the soul must be thoroughly humbled or it will not and cannot receive grace alone. It will not even understand grace alone thought it adheres to it in some creedal form.

If what has been said by Luther about the utter need for the soul to be humbled is correct, then we live in a dark day indeed where little to nothing is said about this necessary preparatory work of the Spirit of God. If this humbling of the soul is at the very heart of justification by faith alone as taught by Luther, then we are far, far away from teaching the same Gospel that he taught. This would mean that there are vast numbers of people in the pews who think that they believe and even believe in justification by faith alone as a doctrine. But even more, as Solomon Stoddard said, “it is an evidence that men do not have the experience of that work in their own souls, and as it is a sight that such men are utterly unskillful in guiding others who are under this work…It would expose men to think of themselves as converted when they are not (A Guide to Christ).

It is just like the devil himself to hide the glory of the truth from the eyes of sinners by the truth itself. The devil does not care if people hear the words of some of the truth of the Gospel because he can deceive people with the truth. The devil hides the glory of the Gospel from people and so they are not saved (II Cor 4:4). One of the ways this is done is to hide the glory of sovereign grace from people. After all, Scripture teaches us that sinners are saved to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:5-6). There is no other kind of grace but sovereign grace. When we hide the teaching of the enslaved will from people we are hiding their true enslavement from them and so they cannot see the power, beauty, and glory of sovereign grace which is the only kind of grace there is. So their souls remained unhumbled as they remain under the power of the blinding pride of their hearts. They believe in the words of justification by faith alone and so they are deceived about their salvation because their hearts have not been truly and thoroughly humbled. They believe in grace, but cannot truly rely on sovereign grace alone because they are still in the grip of their pride because they have not been truly humbled.

It is a horrible state of darkness that parallels the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:23. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! When the humility that is in the soul is pride, how great is the blinding power of that pride. When the faith that is in the soul is by pride, how blind are those who have that proud faith. They are, as the Pharisees, doubly lost. When God sends famine, at times He sends severe famines. We are in a severe spiritual famine.